


love someone for loving you instead of someone really cool

by glitterfox19



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe, First Kiss, Getting Together, M/M, Museums, tsukishima is also down bad but he is so bad at feelings, yamaguchi tadashi simping for 5k words that's it that's the fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-02
Updated: 2021-03-02
Packaged: 2021-03-15 11:47:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29807928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/glitterfox19/pseuds/glitterfox19
Summary: Tsukishima Kei is a museum curator. Yamaguchi Tadashi is a college student on an awful first date. It gets better from there.
Relationships: Sawamura Daichi/Sugawara Koushi, Tsukishima Kei/Yamaguchi Tadashi, blink and you'll miss daisuga tho
Comments: 19
Kudos: 110





	love someone for loving you instead of someone really cool

**Author's Note:**

> entire plot comes from a tik tok by @flyhighdesign2 (link is https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMe6fqGuA/ if you want to see where it comes from)!! thank you guys so much for the idea aaaaa hope it is to ur liking

Tadashi was never, ever, ever giving his number out again. Ever. Actually, scratch that, he was never talking to strangers again. It seemed to only end up causing him chaos or grief. Or both, at the same time, which was what was occurring on this first date.

It had seemed harmless enough. Terushima was cute in that sort of asshole-ish way. And Tadashi had a thing for assholes--according to Yachi, anyway, and she was usually right when it came to this sort of thing--so when Terushima had come up to him at the coffee shop he went to every day to get his essential-to-his-survival latte and had laid it on thick with the “Freckles, let me take you out,” Tadashi had said yes without really thinking about it. 

_This is what I get for not using my brain,_ Tadashi lamented as he looked around for Terushima. He had gone to the bathroom around fifteen minutes ago. Tadashi was starting to wonder if he was ever coming back. Not that he would really care either way; Terushima had hit on the lady operating the front desk while buying a ticket. He didn’t even buy Tadashi’s. And then he had turned around to hit on the guy who had been behind them in line. So as first dates went, it was pretty shitty. 

There was no sight of the bleached-blond douchebag, but there sure were a lot of people gathered around. Lots of parents begging their grimy kids to pay attention and not run off, a couple high schoolers messing around with a trinket in the gift shop, incredibly beefy security guards, and food court employees who had lost the will to live long, long, long ago.

Tadashi sighed and checked his watch. 2:30 PM already. They hadn’t even made it into the museum. It seemed like the date was going to be a bust, but he still had the ticket and a free Saturday afternoon. _Might as well take advantage of it, it’s a waste of my money otherwise,_ he thought as he presented his ticket to the bored-looking guard, who wordlessly gave him a purple stamp and gestured to a stack of brochures.

The brochure highlighted two major exhibits: the dinosaur collection and the butterfly garden. He thumbed through the map -- the butterfly garden was all the way on the other side of the museum. _Maybe I should stick close to the lobby in case Terushima comes back._ Tadashi grimaced at the thought. _I don’t really want him to come back, though. But maybe that’s the decent thing to do. And the dinosaur exhibit is right here. Might as well, right?_

The dinosaur exhibit wasn’t too hard to spot; the museum was famous for boasting several full-size skeletons. Tadashi just had to follow the floating skull in the sky. As he got closer, he started to hear more squeals of boisterous kids and what sounded to be an even more enthusiastic employee. 

“Are you here for the tour?!” Tadashi blinked down at the exceptionally energetic museum guide. He grinned at Tadashi before gesturing him forward. “C’mon! Tsukki’s about to start!”

“Hinata, how many times do I have to tell you to stop calling me that. Especially in front of patrons. Considering how often you don’t listen, it’s a miracle you still have this job.” The guy who must be Hinata stuck out his tongue at his coworker. His... absolutely stunning coworker.

Tadashi felt the urge to grab his jaw so it wouldn’t drop to the floor and roll away. Human beings shouldn’t be allowed to be that gorgeous. It wasn’t fair. This guy was built like a model; he had a few inches on Tadashi, with blond hair and amber eyes behind sleek, black glasses. _Oh my God Tadashi. Get a grip. You sound like an embarrassing romance novelist._ His heart seemed unable to get a grip. It was too fixated on the swoop of hair. It seemed so fluffy. His heart was urging him to pat it. 

His outfit only added to Tadashi’s theory that this guy had to have a part-time job as a model. His clothes screamed sleek with the well-tailored pants and a button-down underneath a gray cashmere sweater. His curator lanyard didn’t even make him look tacky. Why was he hot and well-dressed? The final box to tick on Tadashi’s ‘guy-who-is-precisely-my-type’ was asshole demeanor, and it seemed like this guy had already demonstrated that, so Tadashi was truly, royally fucked. Terushima was long forgotten. His mind was already calculating how much an annual pass to this museum would cost. It would be worth it to see this beautiful face every day.

“Sorry, Tsukishima!” Hinata did a mock salute before returning his attention to Tadashi. “Anyway. You should go on the tour! Tsukishima may be--” Tsukishima sent him a glare, and Hinata scrambled to change course. “Er, it’s super cool! I never get tired of hearing it! Have fun!”

Tadashi offered him a confused little half-wave before glancing over at Tsukishima-the-model-oh-my-God-he’s-too-hot. Tsukishima was mid-eye roll. This man was going to be the death of him. Here lies Yamaguchi Tadashi. Maybe Tsukishima would feel bad for killing him and would lay flowers on his grave. How dreamy.

Tsukishima cleared his throat. “Now that we have a big enough group here, I suppose we can get started.” He pushed up his glasses with two fingers. Tadashi had to suppress the urge to fan himself. Didn’t this museum have air conditioning? It was the middle of winter, but still. “Welcome to Sendai’s Science Museum. My name is Tsukishima Kei, and I’ll be your guide for the next half-hour. I’ll remind you all of this only once: do not touch the exhibits. If you’re too young to know that, have whoever's with you hold your hand.” Tadashi covered his mouth with his hand so he wouldn’t snort at the disgruntled expression on the face of the young father on his right. 

It was a small group overall of about four families and one spectacularly out-of-place Yamaguchi Tadashi. But it was half an hour of his life and this guide was about as hot as the sun or the volcano that killed the dinosaurs (or whatever it was, anyway, Tadashi was never one to pay attention in science class), so he decided to just roll with it. 

“Ryuu,” an exasperated-looking father said. His dark brown hair was messy like he'd been _this_ close to pulling it out. Kids seemed too stressful in Tadashi's eyes. At least in this point in his life. “Did you hear the nice guide? Don’t touch the bones.”

“The bones are meant to be touched, Dad!” The little boy said, rolling up the sleeves of his t-shirt as though that might hinder him in causing general chaos. “Hands-on learning is important! My teacher said so.”

“Your teacher is usually right,” Tsukishima said. “But for now, it’s best to look. Is that alright with you?” _Oh, he’s good with kids, too, that’s a really important thing to consider in a future husband, and what the actual fuck, Tadashi?_

“Hmph,” Ryuu said, crossing his arms.

“I bet there’s hands-on exhibits that we can go to next, kiddo!” A silver-haired man said, crouching down to pat Ryuu on the shoulder. “Is that okay?” The little boy mulled it over before eventually nodding. His two fathers breathed a sigh of relief in almost perfect unison. 

Tsukishima clapped his hands together. “Alright, folks. I’ll start with a classic. This here is Teddy, our triceratops skull. Everyone say hello to Teddy.” There was a muttered chorus of hellos, and one very enthusiastic “HOWDY!” from Ryuu. “Most of us have heard of triceratops before, but that doesn’t make them any less interesting. It’s actually very rare to find a complete skeleton because of his huge skull. See how flat and wide it is?” When Tsukishima gestured to the exhibits, Tadashi took several mental pictures of his long, thin fingers and tried not to feel too creepy about it. 

“After scavengers had their fill on a dead triceratops, the water would run from its skull, so the bones often ended up far away from the skull. Our Teddy’s around 66 million years old, but despite his scary looks, he preferred chomping on grass to other animals. Now, if you’ll direct your attention over here…”

Tadashi tried to not look so eager as he meandered to the front of the group. This close, he could see even more clearly the way Tsukishima half-smiled when listing facts about a particular find, and the black nail polish he had on his fingernails, and the way his eyes lit up when someone asked a question, and how desperately he tried to keep his mouth in a flat line while explaining even though it was clear the corners of his mouth wanted to quirk up into a face-splitting grin.

That half an hour tour felt more like five minutes. It was so easy to stay engaged with the easy lilt of Tsukishima’s voice. The smiles that did manage to escape his careful control over his expression did wonders for Tadashi’s attention span, too. And it was really cute to see how excited he was and how much he was trying to keep it under wraps with his otherwise cool, indifferent persona. This infatuation was clearly spiraling out of control.

“Okay. Thank you for joining me on the tour. I’ll be here if you want to explore a little more on your own. If you want to move on, Hinata would be happy to help you find your next exhibit.” He bowed stiffly before moving to stand next to the entrance.

When enough time had passed that Tadashi felt like he wouldn’t come across as being an obsessive weirdo, he went up to Tsukishima. The guide blinked at him. “Do you have a question?” _God, Tsukishima, you’re so hot when you sound like I’m the most boring thing on the planet. Yeah, I have a question: would you go out with me sometime? Or we can skip straight to getting married. That sounds good, actually. Can I pick the honeymoon destination?_

“Um, yeah. I was wondering… which one’s your favorite?” 

“My favorite?” He raised his eyebrows, but his face remained otherwise blank. “You’re interested in my favorite?”

“I mean, you’ve worked here for awhile, right? You must have a favorite.”

A little smirk crossed Tsukishima’s face. It disappeared just as quickly as it came. Was it embarrassing that Tadashi was cataloguing all of his smiles? Maybe, but at least no one could hear his thoughts. “Well, you got me there. I do have a favorite. But I think I’ll show you the most impressive one instead.”

“Oh?”

“If you want to see my favorite, you should come back another time.” Tadashi’s thoughts took a brief vacation before roaring in his ears louder than they had been before. _Is he hitting on me? No, that’s so presumptuous, oh my God, I don’t even know if he likes men. But that sounded like a romantic line. I can’t ask for clarification. Man, I wish Yachi were here…_ “Anyway. Do you see this amber right here?”

“Yeah,” Tadashi said. _It’s the same shade as your eyes, except your eyes are far prettier._ His thoughts were getting more embarrassing by the second. _Get a grip, Tadashi! I’m begging you!_ “What’s so cool about it?”

“Guess how old it is.”

“Hm… isn’t it your job to tell me?” Tadashi said, his mouth curling up slightly. Tsukishima raised his eyebrows and let out a snort. Tadashi was going to sue this museum; its employees should not be allowed to be that attractive mid-snort. It could injure their patrons. “Is it… 60 million years old?”

“It’s 99 million years old, but that’s not the only thing that makes it so interesting. Do you see that tiny skull? It looks a bit like a bird, doesn’t it? At one point, we thought it was the smallest dinosaur on record. It’s not actually a dinosaur at all, but look at how small it is. The creature only weighed two grams.”

“It’s so cool how into this stuff you are,” Tadashi blurted. _Oh no. I’ve overstepped. He’ll surely catch on to my infatuation with him and now he’s going to kick me out of the museum. I’ll get a lifetime ban just for being human. Isn’t everyone attracted to this man? He must have gotten so many confessions in high school._

Tsukishima didn’t look disgusted or like he was committing Tadashi’s face to memory for the museum’s DO NOT ADMIT list. He looked like someone had asked him a question that truly, utterly stumped him. Not a bad look. A cute look, actually. Tadashi’s brain just wouldn’t quit, it seemed. Tsukishima collected himself after a few seconds. “I’m glad you enjoyed having me as a guide.”

Tadashi opened his mouth, but a different voice cut through the air right as he started to form a response. “Yamaguchi! Freckles! There you are, I’ve been looking for you everywhere. Are you done looking at this boring shit?”

“Er, Terushima, what--” Terushima slung an arm around his shoulders and started steering him away. Tadashi glanced back to see Tsukishima standing there, arms crossed, expression steely. Tadashi waved at him and offered him his best apologetic grin. The guide stiffened before holding up a hand in a very tiny wave.

Their date did not last very long after they left the dinosaur exhibit. In fact, it had lasted approximately three minutes, which was the time it took Tadashi to say, “Hey, I think you’re a great guy, but I don’t think this is going to work out,” and for Terushima to respond, “Fine with me, Freckles! Later!” Tadashi had wandered around aimlessly for another ten minutes before heading back to the train station.

While the first date with Terushima wasn’t very successful, he still had his hopes up for a first date with another blond asshole whose name began with a T. If awkward and annoying, at least it wasn’t pointless.

*

 _This is a mistake,_ Tadashi thought when he stepped off the train exactly a week after he met Tsukishima.

 _He’s going to think you’re creepy,_ his brain told him when he was buying his ticket.

 _You don’t even know that he works every Saturday afternoon, he might not be there,_ it suggested when Tadashi made a beeline for the dinosaur collection.

 _Maybe he won’t even remember you_ was one of the last coherent thoughts he had before he noticed someone trying to flag him down. Tadashi glanced over. _Do I know them? I hope I don’t know them, I’m a man on a mission and I’m really not in the mood to make idle small talk oh my God it’s Tsukishima he’s so pretty what the fuck._

After that, his brain was of little help. Tsukishima stood there, absently pulling on his fingers. He was wearing almost all black today, which was doing very little to help Tadashi’s slowly declining sanity.

“You’re back,” Tsukishima said in a flat tone. “Boyfriend didn’t want to come with you this time?”

“Not my boyfriend,” Tadashi said immediately, wrinkling his nose at the thought. Tsukishima’s shoulders dropped slightly, like a dog backing down from a fight. “The guy from last week was a terrible first date. Who invites someone to a museum and then decides they hate museums? He also hit on at least two people in front of me. So there’s quite a few reasons why he’s not my boyfriend.”

“Huh,” the curator said. “I apologize for making assumptions, er... I don’t think I got your name last time.”

“Oh! I’m Yamaguchi Tadashi. Your tour was so interesting last time, I just couldn’t stay away.”

“Tsukishima Kei. And you’re too kind.” Was it Tadashi’s imagination, or were his cheeks flushing pink? “I’m giving another one in five minutes. Er, if you’re interested.”

“Of course I’m interested! Did you not hear me the first time?” Tsukishima blinked, golden eyes wide behind his thick frames. His eyelashes were yellow, too. Tadashi wanted to kiss them. 

The tour was different from last time, covering a different section of the collection. Tsukishima animatedly rattled off facts about certain exhibits and patiently answered questions from kids who were too little to understand some of the finer details of his explanations. Tadashi watched the way one of his hands formed a little fist when he was enthusiastic about a particular find.

“Do I get to hear about your favorite yet?” Tadashi teased, sidling up to Tsukishima’s side once the tour was over.

“You really want to know?” Tsukishima said. His eyes were wide with surprise before his expression rearranged into an arrogant-looking smirk. Tadashi’s heart hammered against his ribcage. “Are you stalking me, Yamaguchi?”

“N-no! This stuff is just…” He flexed his hands when the words escaped him. “It’s cool! And it’s cool that you love it so much!”

“Cool,” Tsukishima echoed, but rather than mocking, it seemed he was trying to feel out the syllables of the word in order to figure out what it meant. “You said that last time. That it’s cool. Hm. That’s cute.”

Tadashi’s face was on fire. _WHAT THE FUCK WHAT THE FUCK WHAT THE FUCK,_ his brain added helpfully. “Well? Do I get to hear your favorite or what?” He crossed his arms, trying to regain any semblance of control over the conversation and his emotions.

“How about the coolest one?”

“How is that any different from your favorite? Or the most impressive?” Tadashi complained. Tsukishima covered his mouth with a hand, but Tadashi still heard his breathy laugh. His face must be the most horrendously obvious shade of red. 

“Well? Are you coming?” 

“Yeah,” Tadashi grumbled, trailing after the curator. Tsukishima shot him a cocky half-smile before leading the way towards a huge skeleton on the wall. 

Tadashi stood on his toes to get a better look, as the skeleton was well above his head. There were seventeen flat, plate-like bones arranged over what looked to be a spine that tapered into a tail. At the end of the tail were several long spikes.

“Stegosaurus, or roof lizard. Lots of people know about this one, but that doesn’t make it any less beautiful. They were herbivores, but armed to the teeth. The plates, or scutes, are about half the size of an average woman. The scale is hard to comprehend without flesh on the bones, huh?”

“Yeah,” Tadashi breathed, watching Tsukishima out of the corner of his eye. “Why do you think it’s the coolest?”

“No one knows how the plates are supposed to be arranged. There’s a couple leading theories, but again, we’ll never know for sure until someone invents a time machine and goes back to see for themselves. I think that’s so interesting. The creativity of paleontology. The limits of human knowledge.” Tsukishima couldn’t keep the smile off of his face as he spoke. It was so endearing, Tadashi wanted to reach up and squish his cheeks. What was that phenomenon again? Cute aggression? He was going to go to jail simply because this snarky dork of a museum curator was too adorable for Tadashi’s well-being.

“How do you think they’re meant to be arranged?” 

“You ask me all the hard questions, Yamaguchi,” Tsukishima said through a laugh.

Tadashi blanched. “Sorry, Tsukishima! I don’t mean-”

“I don’t mind,” Tsukishima said, his voice growing soft. Tadashi had to lean in to catch what he was saying over the din of excited kids and other boisterous museum patrons. “I like it.”

The curator cleared his throat. Tadashi took a step back and felt the pressure on his chest lighten, if barely. Tsukishima’s presence had an intense physical effect, which was equal parts exciting and embarrassing. _What am I, a love-crazy teenager again?_

“I agree with what most people think, which isn’t a very exciting answer, sorry about that. I think it’s the arrangement we see here, which is the two rows of alternating plates. But that’s not the end of the debate when it comes to this dinosaur. Were the plates covered in skin? Or horn? And why did they evolve plates, anyway? What were they for? There’s so many things that we just don’t know yet.” 

“It’s so fascinating that these creatures were alive so long ago and we’ve known about them for, what, two hundred years? And we still don’t know every single thing about them,” Tadashi mused. “Maybe in fifty years, we’ll have decided that stegosaurus had plates on their bellies, or something.”

“Are you studying to become an archaeologist?”

“No, business degree, actually. But I’ve always loved science. And it’s easier to get interested in something when you’re learning from someone like you,” Tadashi said, beaming at Tsukishima. 

“Someone like me? What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You’re just so… you try so hard to act cool, but you clearly love this stuff. It’s endearing.” _Oh fuck!_ “Er! I mean! It’s in-”

“Nice one, Yamaguchi,” Tsukishima said through a chuckle. “But I understand. You make this job easier for me, too. It’s nice lecturing to someone who actually has the attention span to listen. It’s a rarity these days.”

“Oh. I didn’t know…” Tadashi’s alarm beeped. Tadashi resisted the urge to groan just barely and glanced down. Career counseling meeting in twenty minutes, his watch said. Tadashi had the childish urge to smash it to bits. “Shit. I’m going to be late.” 

Tsukishima nodded, mouth pursed. “Are you…”

“Am I what?” 

“I’m working next Saturday evening,” Tsukishima said, eyes trained on something just to the left of Tadashi’s face.

Tadashi grinned. “Okay!”

“Okay?”

“See you then, Tsukki!” Tadashi said in a sing-song, waving as he went towards the exit.

The casual usage of the nickname only hit Tadashi when he was two minutes from his home stop. At that point, coherent thought beyond screaming at himself and screaming at how unfair it was that Tsukishima was that attractive did not exist.

*

“You actually came,” Tsukishima said the following Saturday when Tadashi finally made his way inside the dinosaur collection area. 

“Well, yeah! I said I would.” 

“I have a surprise planned for you once we get close to closing, if that’s alright.” 

“Uh, sure!” Tadashi had come fairly late in the day, but there was still another hour before the museum closed. He wasn’t quite sure that there was enough to entertain himself with in the dinosaur exhibit. Other than openly staring at the handsome curator. It was a great way to spend time in his opinion, but would also become very creepy very quickly.

Tadashi busied himself with reading all of the placards explaining certain exhibits and tried to pretend like he wasn’t listening to everything Tsukishima said to visitors. If only Yachi were here, she’d be able to tell him if he was actually doing a good job of acting normal. Or maybe not. She was just as terrible with romance as he was.

With about fifteen minutes to the museum’s close, Tsukishima went over to Hinata and leaned down to ask him something. Tadashi couldn't quite make out the words. Hinata gave him two thumbs up (a gesture that seemed to rankle Tsukishima’s fine sensibilities) and said something that sounded a lot like, “Go get him!” Whatever that meant.

Tsukishima’s face was pink when he finally made his way to Tadashi. “I was wondering… I can take you on a private tour around the museum once it closes. I already made the arrangements for that to happen. I don’t want to pressure you into it, though. Only if you want to.”

“Of course I want to!” Tadashi barely let him finish his sentence. “Oh my God, that sounds so cool! I know your expertise is in this area of the museum, but you must know a lot about everything, you look smart anyway, I feel like you know a lot of fun facts, I’m too excited that I’m rambling. I am so sorry.”

“You’re allowed to ramble,” Tsukishima said, the corner of his mouth curling up. And then in a much quieter voice, he said something that sounded an awful lot like, “It’s cute.” Tadashi started considering hearing aids. 

“What?” 

“Nothing.” Tsukishima’s cheeks were going from pink to red. Tomato-like, even. “Where should we go first? Tour of the human body or plants that kill?”

“Both of those sound creepy, Tsukki-er, Tsukishima.” _Curse my stupid familiar tongue. He’s going to know I’ve been calling him by that nickname when I’m alone or talking about him to Yachi._ “How about plants that kill?”

“Perfect.”

Plants that kill was aptly named. The collection was dedicated to showing the most deadly plants. Most exhibits were captioned with a historical anecdote that related to its discovery or an unfortunate figure who accidentally took a bite out of something they shouldn’t have.

“I prefer the healing section of this collection,” Tsukishima said, bending over to whisper in Tadashi’s ear. Tadashi shivered. They didn’t need to be this close, as no one else was in the museum except for the occasional employee, but Tadashi wasn’t complaining. He felt like a magnet drawn to the curator’s side.

“Not one for...hemlock, eh, Tsukishima?”

“It killed Socrates. I’m not letting it kill me.” Tadashi covered his laugh with a hand. Tsukishima’s eyes glinted with mirth.

They moved on to the butterfly exhibit next, but it was a bit of a trek. Conversation flowed easily between them.

“What made you decide to become a museum curator?” Tadashi asked during a lull. Talking to Tsukishima was as natural as breathing as long as Tadashi didn’t overthink. Their banter came fairly easily; it was almost as though they’d known each other for years, not weeks.

“I’ve always loved knowing things, but I wasn’t really one to push myself,” Tsukishima said, eyes cast toward the ceiling. “So going for a job that required any education beyond university was not something I was interested in. Working in a museum… You get a lot of general knowledge and they don’t mind if your personality isn’t really up to customer service standards.”

“Why dinosaurs, then?”

“Archaeology is what I studied in university. I’ve loved them ever since my older brother introduced me to then when I was a little kid. I suppose I can blame him for why I ended up in this profession.”

“Blame him? You should thank him!” Tadashi said, managing to forget his embarrassment for a moment. _C’mon, Tadashi! You can do it! Flirting is all about being bold!_ A voice that sounded a lot like Yachi encouraged him. _Even if it’s so scary!_ “Otherwise I wouldn’t have gotten to meet you.”

“That’s a good point. I’ll thank him for that the next time I see him, then,” Tsukishima said, a small smile gracing his face. Tadashi felt his entire body go warm.

An enormous greenhouse was set up inside the museum to serve as the butterfly exhibit. Tsukishima held the door as Tadashi walked in. He was hit with a wave of sticky heat and grimaced.

“Ah, yeah, forgot to warn you,” Tsukishima said. “It’s very humid in here. Otherwise the butterflies would, well, die.” Tadashi let out a loud laugh.

Tsukishima pointed out a few that were starting to emerge from a chrysalis. A spectacularly blue butterfly landed on Tadashi’s shoulder and seemed intent on staying there for their entire tour.

“You’ve made a friend,” Tsukishima noted when they were nearing the exit.

“Don’t get jealous, Tsukishima,” Tadashi teased. “You’re still my favorite.”

“Hm. Good.” How was Tsukishima so good at making Tadashi blush? It’s like he wasn’t even trying. Tadashi counted his lucky stars for his natural tan and his freckles; at least his blush wasn’t embarrassingly obvious.

When Tsukishima reached for the door handle to lead them back out, an orange butterfly decided it was the appropriate moment to land on the curator’s nose. Tsukishima went cross-eyed and sneezed. Tadashi couldn’t help it; he laughed so hard he had to grab his knees for support and dislodged his butterfly companion in the process. He was still wiping tears away when they paused in a dark section of hallway between collections.

“Oh, please, Yamaguchi, keep laughing at the expression I just made,” Tsukishima drawled. “I don’t mind at all.” Tadashi might have been more intimidated if it weren’t for the curator’s fierce blush.

“Sorry. It was adorable, really.” 

Tsukishima raised an eyebrow. “Adorable? Me?” 

“Yes!” Tadashi half-shouted. “Are you insane?” _How does this man not recognize how good-looking he is? His sneezes are cute! That shouldn’t be humanly possible and I want him to apologize for making my existence pale in comparison. How can I get him to recognize just how attractive he is?_

 _You could ask him out,_ his brain suggested. The mere idea of it made Tadashi blush even further. _Now or never, right? Before the tour’s over. It’s getting pretty late, isn’t it? And he’s been flirting back. Kind of. Ish. You should go for it._

“Hm.” Tsukishima shoved his hands in his pockets. “I guess--”

“Can I take you on a date sometime!” Tadashi blurted. He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment so he wouldn’t keel over. Or vomit. Or flee. All three sounded nice. Once he was confident that he wasn’t going to hurl his lunch on Tsukishima’s nice shoes, he opened his eyes.

Tsukishima had his head tilted to the side. “I thought this was a date. Was I not clear enough?”

Tadashi opened his mouth and then closed it. And then opened it again. “When did you say this was a date?”

“I suppose I didn’t say it directly. I implied it.”

“Direct communication is important, Tsukki! What the fuck!”

“I like that. Tsukki.” Tsukishima repeated the nickname. It sounded funny in his mouth. Like a foreign word. 

“Oh God,” Tadashi groaned. “You weren’t supposed to hear that nickname until our fourth date.”

“Fourth date? Planning our relationship without me, huh, Yamaguchi?” Tsukishima was smirking. _That bastard,_ Tadashi thought. _Why is he so hot and yet so good at pissing me off? Not fair, Tsukki!_

“Sorry, Tsukki,” Tadashi grumbled. “You don’t seem that mad about it, though.”

“It would be hypocritical of me to be mad,” Tsukishima said, taking a step closer. Tadashi watched in wonder as he took off his glasses to clean them with the edge of his shirt before pocketing them. “I can’t say I haven’t been thinking about that, too.”

“Y-you have? As in thought about a relationship with me” Tadashi squeaked. Tsukishima nodded like that was the most elementary concept in the world. _Tsukki, you’re so hot when you’re being condescending!_ “Huh! That’s cool!”

“Cool,” Tsukishima echoed. He was grinning. His smile was so blinding. Any longer and Tadashi was going to do something dumb, like crowd him against the wall and kiss him until neither of them could breathe. “You keep saying I’m cool. You’re the cool one, Yamaguchi.”

“You’re really breaking my brain here, Tsukishima,” Tadashi half-babbled. His brain was turning to mush. Disintegrating, even. “You can’t keep complimenting me. Or… Or else.”

“Oh?” Tsukishima took another step forward. Tadashi’s back hit the wall, but he didn’t dare look away from Tsukishima’s eyes. The tiny ring of gold around his pupils was shimmering. “Tell me, Yamaguchi. Or else what?”

Tadashi grabbed a fistful of Tsukishima’s collar and pressed their lips together. Tsukishima wouldn’t stop smiling into it, which was equal parts frustrating and adorable. His hands came up from his sides to bracket Tadashi’s face. Tadashi felt like he was a rock climber scrambling for purchase, desperately trying not to fall into a yawning abyss. Tsukishima’s mouth was so warm and so insistent. Tadashi was warm from the inside out. He opened his mouth to say so, but Tsukishima swallowed his small breath and nudged his head back to deepen the kiss. Tadashi squirmed, delight running through his veins.

When they separated with an obscene smack, Tadashi’s head was spinning. Tsukishima’s face was still so close, his eyes trained on Tadashi’s mouth. “Tsukki, you’re going to be the death of me.”

“I could say the same about you,” Tsukishima said, still refusing to lift his gaze. He moved one hand from the wall to slowly drag a thumb against Tadashi’s bottom lip. Tadashi sighed. His brain was completely broken at this point. It was beyond screaming thoughts; all that was between his ears was white noise and _want._

“We shouldn’t do this here, right? There’s cameras and everything. Right?” 

“Hm? I think so. So what? It’s not every day that I get to kiss incredibly handsome men.”

“Tsukki,” Tadashi huffed through a laugh. He felt drunk. This was the best night of his life. “Why don’t we go to my place? We can get dinner. And we can… er, continue where we left off.”

Tsukishima straightened up. Tadashi took a deep breath of air, but he still felt dizzy with the swell of affection. “Fine. That’s fine.”

Walking side-by-side with Tsukishima to the exit was exhilarating. Tadashi made sure to bump their knuckles together as often as he could just to see Tsukishima’s face blush bright red. For all his suave moves, it seemed that Tsukishima was soft on the inside.

“Hey, Tsukishima,” Tadashi said after he had knocked his hand against Tsukishima's for at least the fifteenth time since they left the museum. "You never did tell me which exhibit was your favorite."

Tsuksihima gently threaded their fingers together and stubbornly refused to make eye contact as he did so. Tadashi felt a thrill travel from the base of his spine to his teeth. He couldn’t stop the grin from spreading across his face if he tried. "I suppose I didn't, huh? I guess that means you'll have to come back."

"You bastard," Tadashi said, pushing Tsukishima gently. "You conniving fucker!"

“My dastardly plan."

"Well," Tadashi started. Tsukishima finally slid his eyes over to meet Tadashi’s. “That's good, I guess. Extra excuses to come see you."

"You don't need excuses anymore, Yamaguchi."

Tadashi squeezed their interconnected fingers, his heart taking flight. "I suppose I don't, huh?"

**Author's Note:**

> title comes from best friend by rex orange county. also in my head kageyama is a food court employee at the museum because he needs a part time job while he's in uni playing volleyball and he is so head over heels for hinata so whenever hinata gets food from where he works he snaps at him but always gives him extra food without charging and hinata always complains about kageyama to tsukishima who is so incredibly tired of their shit ok yeah i have brain rot <3


End file.
